''Cavernicola'' is a genus of assassin bugs in the family

Reduviidae The Reduviidae is a large Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family of the suborder Heteroptera of the Order (biology), order Hemiptera (true bugs). Among the Hemiptera and together with the Nabidae almost all species are terrestrial ambush ...

. They are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Like other members of the subfamily

Triatominae The members of the Triatominae , a subfamily of the Reduviidae, are also known as conenose bugs, kissing bugs (so-called from their habit of feeding from around the mouths of people), or vampire bugs. Other local names for them used in the Amer ...

, ''Cavernicola'' species primarily feed on

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

blood. Like other members of the subfamily, ''Cavernicola'' spp. can potentially transmit ''

Trypanosoma cruzi ''Trypanosoma cruzi'' is a species of parasitic euglenoids. Among the protozoa, the trypanosomes characteristically bore tissue in another organism and feed on blood (primarily) and also lymph. This behaviour causes disease or the likelihood ...

'' (a known cause of

Chagas disease Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is spread mostly by insects in the subfamily Triatominae, known as "kissing bugs". The symptoms change throughout the ...

), but they are not considered important vectors as they are strictly found in wild

ecotope Ecotopes are the smallest ecologically distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system. As such, they represent relatively homogeneous, spatially explicit landscape functional units that are useful for stratifying lan ...

s and do not occur around dwellings.World Health Organization. ''Control of Chagas Disease.'' WHO technical Report Series, No. 905. 2002. 40-49. ''Cavernicola pilosa'' feeds primarily on

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s, but has been reported as biting humans.O'Toole, Christopher. ''The New Encyclopedia of Insects and Their Allies.'' Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2002. 100.

Species

* ''

Cavernicola lenti Cavernicola, cave-dwelling in Latin, may refer to: Music * Cavernicola CD, a CD by the band Los Peyotes * Cavernivola Records, a label by the band Che Sudaka * Tatán Cavernícola, a member of Chilean band Pánico Biology * ''Cavernicola'' ...

'' (Barrett & Arias, 1985) * '' Cavernicola pilosa'' (Barber, 1937)

References

Reduviidae Hemiptera of South America Hemiptera of Central America Cimicomorpha genera {{Reduviidae-stub